29 Adar II 5708 – 9 April 1948
Irgun and Stern Gang fighters conquered the Arab village of Dir Yassin in the Jerusalem Corridor. Tens of Arab civilians were killed, including women and children. The battle became an ongoing argument between left and right wing political camps in Israel, with the Hagana establishment claiming that the Irgun and Stern Gang had disregarded orders by inflicting civilian casualties, while those who’d taken part in the battle insisted that given the way circumstances had developed during the fighting, they’d acted according to their instructions. Certain historians accused the underground militia fighters of rape and mutilating enemy corpses, while others dismissed the accusations as attempts by the Hagana to de-legitimize the Irgun and Stern Gang, and as Arab propaganda against the Jewish state. No one disputes the fact that innocent civilians, women and children were indeed killed during the fighting, and that Dir Yassin remains as a stain on Israel’s military history.